2016 wasn’t the only thing that came to an end Saturday night.
After 22 consecutive wins against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opponents, and 12 in a row after losing the season’s first game, the No. 17 Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team was finally taken down.
The Skyhawks were uncharacteristically careless with the ball, had trouble getting perimeter shots to drop, and couldn’t make up for it in the final minutes as Regis knocked off the defending RMAC champions 78-76 in Denver to end a historic stretch of play by Fort Lewis.
Rasmus Bach led the way with 23 points, and Joshua Blaylock added 21, but the team’s 18 turnovers and far too many offensive rebounds allowed to the Rangers were too much to overcome down the stretch.
“We had opportunities to make just enough plays to win this one, and we just couldn’t convert offensively,” Fort Lewis head coach Bob Pietrack said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “We were really sloppy at times but they deserve some credit for making it tough on us. We didn’t play well on the offensive end at all.”
Fort Lewis (12-2, 7-1 RMAC) shot a rough 14-percent from 3-point distance in the opening half, making 1-for-7 while Regis managed to sink 7-of-14 3-point attempts. However, a 60-percent clip overall kept the Skyhawks within one possession behind 13 first-half points on a 5-for-6 effort from the field by Bach.
It took awhile for either team to separate itself in the second half, as there were five lead changes in the first five minutes. Neither team led by more than a basket until the Rangers grabbed a lead after rolling off a 9-0 run midway through the half to build up an eight-point lead.
Fort Lewis backup point guard Daniel Hernandez took matters into his own hands temporarily to single-handedly make up the deficit. Hernandez caught fire and scored eight consecutive points to knot the score up at 68. However, the inability to grab a few crucial rebounds and missed chances at the foul line down the stretch cost FLC in the end.
Fort Lewis was outscored in second-chance points 14-2 and committed 18 turnovers to nine for the home team. The combination allowed Regis to attempt 20 more field-goals than FLC.
Hernandez finished with 13 points off the bench and Alex Semadeni had 10 in the first Fort Lewis loss to an RMAC opponent since Jan. 15.
Dexter Sienko led the Rangers (10-3, 4-3 RMAC) with 20 points.
“To win 22 straight games against the teams in this league is unheard of,” Pietrack said. “Every night there’s a good team looking back at you, and it’s hard to beat any of them on these road trips especially on the back end. The schedule doesn’t get any easier for us, but we have no time to dwell on it. Win or lose, in this league you have to turn the page in a hurry.”
The Skyhawks will try to start a new streak in 2017 next weekend as they head back to Denver on Friday for a 7 p.m. matchup with perennial league powerhouse Metro State.
jfries@durangoherald.com
